Hispanics get chance to tell life stories

This oral history project will record information and will hopefully open up discussion in the families. Many younger generations have no idea what their grandparents went through. - - Donna Poisl

By Drew Joseph - Hearst Newspapers

WASHINGTON — When U.S. Rep. Charlie Gonzalez sits down to share his experiences for Historias, an initiative unveiled Thursday to record the stories of Latinos in America, the San Antonio Democrat is going to compare how he, his father — the legendary late Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez — and his grandparents assimilated in America.

When the younger Gonzalez's grandparents emigrated from Mexico around 1910, they initially planned on returning, he said at the debut of Historias, a project of StoryCorps, a nonprofit oral history group that records stories of everyday Americans.

“I want to talk about how my father sought that more complete assimilation and the obstacles he had to face and his generation's contribution to allowing me to do what I do today,” Gonzalez said.
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